


Down by the Water

by mericorn



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Dark, Gen, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-25
Updated: 2013-05-25
Packaged: 2017-12-12 22:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/816595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mericorn/pseuds/mericorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose disappeared. Jade wants answers. Feferi may have them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Down by the Water

“Where is she?” Jade stood on the rocky seashore, the roar of the waves at her feet.

“Where is who?” The gray mermaid flicked her tail idly. She dove backwards into the water and quickly resurfaced.  The sky was a crimson red that blended into pinks that blended into the water.

Jade narrowed her eyes, her glasses reflecting some of the light. “You know exactly who I’m talking about.”

“Do I?”

“Yes, you do. Where is Rose?”

“Rose?” The mermaid’s smile widened to reveal sharp fangs and teeth. “Oh, her. Yes, I might have heard about her. What about her do you want to know?”

Jade gritted her teeth. “Where. Is. She.”

The mermaid giggled. “I don’t know. So many people come through here, I can’t possibly keep track of them all! Besides, all you humans look the same to me.”

“I know for a fact,” Jade said sharply, “that she came down here almost every night. She must have talked to you or you must have seen her!”

“Again, all you humans look the same. And I’m not the only one who comes here to the seashore. Do you suspect I did something with her? Drown her, maybe? Why must you stereotype me, Jade?”

Jade stared the mermaid coldly in the eyes. “How do you know my name?”

The mermaid giggled again, the fins on her face fluttered. “I know a lot of things, silly!”

“Then tell me what you know of Rose!” Jade stomped her foot on the slick rocks and lost her balance. She fell into the water.

Jade immediately began swimming towards the surface but felt sharp nails clutch at her sides and pull her close. She struggled to free herself, pulling on slippery hands, twisting and elbowing.  Her head popped out above the water and Jade coughed and gasped for air.

“See?” the mermaid said. “You do need help from others sometimes!”

“Get away from me!” Jade gasped. She pushed away and swam to the rocks, carefully hoisting herself up. Wring out her hair and skirt, she cried, “You don’t know anything about me!”

 “Your friend might have told me a lot about you.”

“What?! What do you know about her? What do you know about me?”

“Whale…” The mermaid dove down for a bit then reemerged. In her already glittering and bejeweled hand, there was a ring different from hers, silver and understated. “I believe this may be your friend’s ring. I might be willing to part with it if you gave me a land creature you keep as pets. I believe I would like a pony!”

“No way am going to get you anything without telling me about Rose first! Besides, what are you going to do with the animal I bring you?”

“Take care of it, of course, silly!” The mermaid swam away from Jade and farther out to sea. “But if you don’t want to bring me one, I guess you’ll never get this ring.” She it held up.

“Ugh! Fine!” Jade paced back towards shore. “But I’m not getting you a pony!”

“Aww!” said the mermaid.

Jade stopped. “Can I at least have your name?”

The mermaid giggled. “My name’s Feferi!”

 

The next night, Jade returned with a gerbil in a cage in tow.  On the horizon, gray clouds gathered above the churning sea.  The gentle sea breeze was now a gusty wind.  Jade steadied the cage and whispered gentle sayings in the gerbil’s general direction.  Unfortunately, the gerbil clawed at the sides, jiggling the water bottle attached to the side more. 

When Jade reached the rocky shore again, she called, “Feferi! It’s me Jade! I’m back!”

She waited tensely for a few minutes before sitting down on the rock and resting the gerbil next to her. Lazily, she looked out to sea and studied the clouds.  The last remnants of the sunset died beneath the waves. The gerbil gnawed nervously on the bars in the meantime. 

Jade checked her watch: eight thirty and still no sign of Feferi. She grabbed a smooth stone and chucked it into the swirling sea before her.  “Feferi!” she yelled.

Slowly, a pair of horns poked up from the water, followed by black hair that splayed out like tentacles, a golden tiara, large yellow eyes, gray fins, and a pair of fuchsia, smiling, hungry lips. “Hi Jade!” said Feferi.

“Ugh!” Jade through back her head. “What took you so long? I’ve been waiting here for a half an hour!”

“I’m sorry!  I lose track of time easily, especially when I’m not near the surface. I was busy tending to all my lost and hurt cuttlefish down where I live.  It’s not easy taking care of so many.  Glub!”

“Well, I suppose that’s all right.” Jade stood up and picked up the gerbil cage. “Here. I brought you this gerbil for a pet.”

“OH!” Feferi squealed.  She swam up to Jade’s feet and reached for the cage.  “It’s very cute!  What’s its name?”

“Uh… its name is… Mike.”

“Mike?”

“Yes. Mike,” Jade said flatly.

Feferi outstretched her fingers. “Let me hold… him?”

“Yes, him.  Do you know how?” Jade sat back down and carefully unlatched the entrance.  Mike quivered at the back of the cage, as far away from Jade’s hand as he could manage. Jade still managed to grab him however.  His heart beat fast while he was in Jade’s hand. “See, you hold him like this–“

“Yes, I see, I see!” Feferi clutched at the gerbil and put her other hand beneath him, cradling him.  The gerbil panicked as it was brought closer to the water and Feferi squeezed it more.  She cooed as it squeaked and bit the tip of her finger.  “Ow! That’s not very nice.”

Jade looked warily at Feferi. “Uh, the ring please?”

“Hmm?” Feferi gazed absentmindedly at Jade. “Oh right! I’ll go get that!” She paddled over to Jade and returned the gerbil to her hands. Feferi dove down and returned a minute later. “Here!” She threw the ring to Jade.

Jade returned the gerbil to its cage and inspected the ring carefully.  Silver, it had an octopus design that stretched from top of the ring to bottom. Inscribed were two tiny amethysts for eyes. It was definitely something Rose would wear.

“So she was here,” Jade said.

“Oh yes, she was.” Feferi swam towards Jade nonchalantly and reached for the gerbil cage.

Jade snatched the cage away. The gerbil hid in the litter. “What?! Then why even make me go to the trouble of getting an animal if you already knew!”

“Oh Jade!” The mermaid chuckled and readjusted her tiara. “If I didn’t play dumb then I never would have gotten a land creature of my very own to take care of! Think of it this way, now we’re both happy: you get your ring and I get my pet.”

“No, that was never what I wanted at all! I didn’t come here to play zookeeper with you; I came to find out about Rose! Tell me what you know about her! She’s been missing for weeks, and neither Dave nor John nor I know anything about her whereabouts. We’ve hired private detectives, searched all her favorite spots, asked all her neighbors, and nobody knows anything! Then, when I got word that Rose had been caught sneaking around at midnight to come down to the supposedly ‘cursed’ seashore, I came. Not at midnight of course, but still. I don’t like saying this,” Jade sighed, “but you are honestly the only hope of finding her I have right now.”

Feferi propped her arms and cradled her chin on the rocks near Jade. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m sure I can kelp you find her.”

Jade looked at her form the side of her eye.

“She likes squids and such, doesn’t she? And she writes?”

“Yes,” Jade murmured. “I think she was working on something about Fluthulu? I never really know what she’s doing.”

“Then I’m certain I can help you find her! Come back tomorrow after sunset but before the moon rises. I think I’ll have found something by then.”

Jade eyed Feferi suspiciously. “Okay then. I’ll see you then.” She carefully pushed the gerbil cage towards the edge of the rocks. “Take good care of… Mike.”

Feferi giggled high-pitched. “Don’t worry! I will, you’ll sea! See you tomorrow!”

“Yeah. See you then.”

 

Gray clouds canvassed the sky and rain painted the ground a sloshing brown color.  Muddy sand stuck to Jade’s boots as she bounded toward the dark rocky shore.  She tripped, and got a mouthful of sand. She sputtered and spat before continuing running. Hair stuck to her face, raindrops streaked across her glasses. She moved her bangs to lie down on top of her head; it only partially worked.

“Feferi!” Jade gasped. “Feferi!” She stood on the edge where she met Feferi before. Jade picked up a rock and pounded it into the ocean. The splash blended in with the raindrops splattering on the ocean’s surface.  Jade picked up another rock and threw it, another, another. “Feferi!”

Wiping her brow with the back of her hand, Jade noticed something drifting in the water nearby.  The wire cage she brought yesterday floated helplessly, bumping into the rocks. Jade jumped from rock to rock as quickly as she could before scooping the cage up. She desperately groped for Mike inside, until she realized the door was open. She dropped the cage back into the water.  Jade’s mind raced and dread gripped her heart. Did Feferi have the gerbil or–

A few yards away, Jade could make out a small blob drifting toward her. She hopped further along the shore to try and get a better look at it, but had her fears confirmed. The blob was Mike, bloated. He had drowned.

Jade looked desperately around. “Feferi?” she cried.  She spotted a familiar pair of golden yellow horns on the horizon. “Feferi! What happened?”

The mermaid turned her head slightly to look at her but went rigid for a second then dove beneath the waves.  In front of where Feferi was, a large dark form appeared to float on the surface. A human-sized form.

“No!” Jade gasped. She jumped off the rocks and waded into the turbulent sea. 

“Jade, wait! I can explain!” In front of her came Feferi, wild-eyed with drops of fuchsia on her cheeks.

“You don’t need to explain anything, you monster!” Jade yelled plunging further into the water. “You killed her!”

“Stop!” Feferi whipped her tail into Jade, sending her tumbling backwards into the rocks. Jade grimaced as her head hit. Reflexively, she touched her hand to the back of her head. She returned her hand to in front of her face and saw blood. Slowly, Jade stood up again and trudged back to sea.

“Let me explain! I didn’t mean for this to happen! I only wanted to take care of her, she was always so tired, and so sad, and–“

“I don’t care about your intentions! You don’t know anything about taking care of people, you just want to feel like you’re needed by making others depend on you! So you ended up killing Rose!” Jade removed her boots and raincoat and swam out to sea.

Feferi grabbed Jade and held her struggling body. “That’s not true at all!” Feferi said, digging her nails in deeper to Jade’s arms. “I wanted to care for her, but then she– she died.”

“She drowned!” Jade hissed, squirming. “That’s what happens when you put land creatures underwater, they drown! Let me go and get the body!”

“No! I won’t let you! I can fix her!” Pink tears fell down Feferi’s face.

“Are you crazy?! That’s impossible! Let me have the body to give her a funeral!”

“No!” Feferi shrieked. Panicked, she pushed Jade underwater. “Stop, stop, STOP!”

The last thing Jade sees is the fuchsia colored fear in her eyes.


End file.
